PPN Newsletter Spring 2018

Welcome to the third edition of Wexford

PPN’s Newsletter. This newsletter is

designed to keep you up to date with what’s

happening in the PPN. We hope you enjoy it.

Wexford PPN Membership

Wexford PPN currently has 318 members,

spread across the county as follows...

Numbers in each Electoral College are;

Increasing Awareness & Understanding

Work continues on increasing awareness

and understanding of Wexford PPN both

locally and nationally.

At a national level, Wexford PPN was one of

the PPNs represented at this year’s National

Ploughing Championships. With the support

of the Department of Rural & Community

Development, and co-ordinated by Wexford

PPN & Offaly PPN, PPNs across the country

manned a PPN stand to increase awareness

and to highlight the role of PPNs.

The Department deemed this activity very

successful with the PPN being the busiest

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stand in the Department of Rural &

Community Development marquee!

Locally Wexford PPN had stands at Wexpo,

Sports Active Strategy Launch, BOI Enterprist

Town Event in Bunclody and most recently

at the Traveller Health & Wellbeing event

organised by Wexford Local Development.

Kevin Molloy & John Carr at Wexpo

David Doyle representing Wexford PPN at

the Traveller Health & Wellbeing Conference

Wexford PPN developed a dedicated

website www.wexfordppn.ie is the second

half of 2017 which is helping to develop our

independent identity.

The Wexford PPN Animation, a three and a

half minute summary explanation of the

PPN, was also developed in late 2017 and

launched at our October Membership

Meeting. This animation can be viewed on

our website and our facebook page. Please

continue to share this animation to groups

who may be interesting in joining Wexford

PPN

Wexford PPN Animation

Staff at Wexford County Council were due to

receive training on PPNs in October. This

was in an effort to increase awareness and

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understanding of the PPN role among staff

and to encourage greater information

provision to Wexford PPN.

Unfortunately Storm Ophelia hit and the

trainer from Social Justice Ireland could not

travel. It is expected that the training will be

re-scheduled by Wexford County Council to

be completed in Q1 2018.

Funding Focus

The October County Membership (Plenary)

Meeting had a theme of ‘Funding Focus’.

This was driven by member feedback which

had shown a desire for funding hints and tips

in addition to some support signposts.

Wexford PPN commissioned John Warren of

JE Warren to give a presentation on ‘Grant

Writing Hints & Tips’ at the meeting

followed by Q&A

At the meeting Wexford PPN also launched

our Support Signpost leaflet which was

compiled by our PPN Support Officer and

designed to help groups become aware of

the supports available and

to provide some

reference sites.

Thanks to all who

attended and

contributed at the

membership meeting.

National PPN Conference

The first National PPN Conference took place in Sligo in October and was attended by our PPN Support Officer.

PPN National Conference, Sligo

The event was the brainchild of Sligo PPN Secretariat and with its success the plan is to continue it as an annual event. Learnings form the first event will be incorporated into the design of the 2018 event, which will now be organised by the PPN National Advisory Group. Planning is currently underway and we expect the 2018 event to take place in early summer, in a more central location – watch this space.

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Developing Representation

Wexford PPN continues its work to develop

representation of our members. Currently

we have 25 Reps across 10 Committees

In September 2017, Wexford PPN

commissioned Social Justice Ireland to

conduct some training entitled ‘How to be

an Effective PPN Rep’. This was part of our

ongoing support for PPN Reps to help them

in their roles.

Wexford PPN Reps came together again at a

Reps Roundtable Event in December to

review the year and look at ways to further

develop Wexford PPN Representation.

Feedback was compiled and a letter issued

to Wexford County Council Chief Executive

regarding initiatives Wexford PPN believes

would enhance public participation in

Wexford.

PPN Reps are now linking in with members

at the Municipal District Meetings to provide

feedback to members and to gather views

and opinions to feedback to the committees.

Make sure you utilise this MD Meeting

opportunity in your area. The next MD

Meetings will be in April & May 2018

All vacant and interim Rep positions were

publicised in December and nominations

sought to fill these seats. We are delighted

to now have some new Reps in place. A list

of all Reps provided later in this newsletter.

Secretariat Replacement

At our October Plenary members ratified the

Secretariat Re-Election Policy which had

proposed a policy of annual election process

where one third of the Secretariat are

replaced each year.

Bringing this policy into play will begin with

replacement of a third of the Secretariat

through nominations & elections in March

2018 – with those appointed having a term

of office from April 2018 – March 2021.

Workers Meetings & CPD

Our PPN Support Officer is part of a National

Network of Workers which meets 4-6 times

per year. These meetings are invaluable for

Wexford PPN as we get the benefit of shared

experience, see what others are doing, and

work through the continued development of

PPNs across the country.

In January, workers

from across the

country attended a

two day CPD Event

for Workers, funded

by the Department.

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The CPD event was held in Athlone and gave

PPN Workers the opportunity to look in a

little more depth at issues and areas of

concern for development of PPNs, in

addition to having a workshop on Worker

Wellbeing.

Worker CPD Workshop

National PPN Advisory Group

The National PPN Advisory Group is a group

made up of representatives from each of the

PPN Stakeholders; including representatives

from Department, Workers, Pillars, Local

Authorities, & Volunteers (PPN Members).

The role of this group is to advise and

support the Department in the development

and operation of PPNs. In doing so, the

Advisory Group is required to monitor

progress on the development and

implementation of PPNs across the country

to ensure the consistency of implementation

across local authority areas.

They have produced the Public Participation

Networks Annual Report 2016 as a first step

in establishing a data baseline to capture the

range of activities undertaken by PPNs.

This report is available to view on our

website http://wexfordppn.ie/wp-

content/uploads/2018/01/Report-on-PPNS-

2016.pdf

The main recommendations for the

development of PPNs include, in summary;

A national publicity campaign.

National co-ordination for PPNs

Funding of an administrator in each PPN

Commitment to security of funding for

PPNs

Review of the PPN structure – including

linkage groups

Enhancing Local Authority capacity with

regard to Public Participation

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Training & Capacity Building

Wexford PPN aims to help groups in

achieving their objectives, by further

developing themselves, through access to

conferences, training, mentoring,

networking, seminars etc. Based on

feedback from members Wexford PPN

offered fifteen training sessions across a

range of topics in 2017. These events

included;

Training continues in 2018 and we have

provided members with details of upcoming

events. These events are also posted on our

facebook page, and you can book your place

using the links provided there also or by

getting in touch.

If there is a specific area that your group is

interested in training in, please do not

hesitate to get in touch.

Other Events

Earlier this month Wexford PPN organised a

Guided Art Tour of Wexford County Council

Art Collection in collaboration with Wexford

Arts Department.

The tour guide for the day was Oonagh

Latchford and the feedback was excellent.

We aim to organise

another Guided Art Tour

for March as this event

was over-subscribed and

unfortunately we had

some members who did

not get to come along.

In the mean time you can check out the Art

Collection here

http://wexfordcountycouncilartcollection.co

m/

Are there other events you

would like Wexford PPN to

organise?

Examples could include;

Field trips to see the work of

communities around Wexford,

PPN Members attending County Hall

to view a Council Meeting

If so get in touch and let us know.

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Information Sharing

In 2017 Wexford

PPN kept members

informed with 39

information

bulletins, 2

newsletters like this

one, and regular facebook posts.

These bulletins continue to receive very

positive feedback from members but if you

have any comments or suggestions please

get in touch.

We would like to try and measure the

impact of these bulletins and so are asking

members to let us know if you have

benefited in any tangible way from these

bulletins;

Did you find out about a grant you didn’t

know about and in turn receive funding

from it?

Were you made aware of a consultation

taking place that was relevant to your

group?

Did you find out about a resource for

your group that you didn’t know about?

Did you find out about a training activity

for your group (outside of PPN Events)

that you utilised?

Did you attend any conference or event

(outside of PPN events) that you became

aware of through the bulletins?

We would love to have your feedback in

whatever way you find easiest. You can

send us an email, send us a note, and we will

have cards available for you to fill in and

feedback at our County Membership

Meeting also.

We will use this information to guide our

work and to provide feedback to our funders

of the impact of our work. If you don’t want

us to use your group name please let us

know and we will keep the feedback

anonymous when telling others about it.

Strategy & Workplan

The Secretariat is the elected Volunteer

administrative body that help in the running

of Wexford PPN.

In late 2017 this body commissioned

Ahearne & Collins to conduct a facilitated

process of Strategy Development for

Wexford PPN. This process was designed

with an immediate aim of developing a 2018

Workplan and with a longer term aim of

developing a three year strategy for

Wexford PPN.

Now with a body of work completed

Wexford PPN members will have an

opportunity to discuss and comment on the

proposed 2018 Workplan, and to suggest

further elements for inclusion in the longer

term strategy, when the discussion takes

place at the County Membership Meeting in

Enniscorthy on 1st March.

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To allow members to review in advance the

draft workplan and proposed budget

allocation will be issued to members in

advance of the meeting.

Could all member group contacts please

make sure that the draft workplan is

circulated to your own members before they

attend.

Volunteer Opportunities

Wexford PPN has one paid employee and

beyond this relies solely on the voluntary

contribution of members.

In 2018 Wexford PPN are looking to set up

three new working groups. These working

groups will focus on the core functions of

Wexford PPN and offer members the

opportunity to get more involved in the

running of Wexford PPN. It is proposed that

working groups will meet circa three times

per year. The working groups are:

1. Capacity Building – looking after the

development needs of members

(training, conferences, networking,

seminars etc)

2. Communication – covering information

sharing to members and awareness

building generally (print material, social

media, website, promotion, summer

shows etc)

3. Representation – working to build the

representation structures of Wexford

PPN (working with Decision Making

Bodies where we have representation,

Rep training, promoting the

representation function to members

etc)

Can you please share this opportunity to

your own members and get in touch if you

would like to volunteer for any of these

working groups. Working group meeting

times and locations will be facilitated based

on the working group members so don’t let

that put you off!

Other ways to get involved...

Do you have a skill that you could

offer to Wexford PPN?

Could you help out at events? (set

up, sign in, photos, stewarding, etc)

Wexford PPN relies on Volunteers to keep

the network going and so the more the

better!

Please get in touch by email or phone if you

would like to help out in any way.

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Your Representatives

Just a reminder that Wexford PPN

Secretariat are:

Name Representing

John Carr Wexford District

David Doyle Enniscorthy District

Frances Ryan New Ross District

Kevin Molloy Gorey District

Pat Rath Community & Voluntary

Thomas Cullen Social Inclusion

Vacant Environment

Vacant Community & Voluntary

Vacant Social Inclusion

Wexford PPN has representation on three

decision making bodies outside of Wexford

County Council. These committees and their

current representatives are as follows;

Committee Representatives

SE Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG)

Ann Wall

Sports Active – Wexford Local Sports Partnership

Kevin Molloy John Carr

SE Regional Drugs & Alcohol Taskforce (SERDATF)

Ann Lacey

Wexford PPN has 21 Representative

positions on Committees of Wexford County

Council. Current representatives are as

follows;

Committee Representatives

Local Community Development Committee (LCDC)

Mary Hamilton Pat Rath Sean Quirke Anne Shannon Brian Toomey Karin Dubsky

Economic Development & Enterprise SPC

Dan Kennedy MaryB O’Leary Senan O’Reilly

Housing Community & Environment SPC

Ann Walsh Kathleen Fitzpatrick Marie Therese Power

Transportation & Water Services SPC

Bernie Mullen Breda O’Sullivan

Planning & Building Control SPC

Danny Forde

Joint Policing Committee (JPC)

David Doyle Tina Smith Joy Lattimore Rice

Courtown/ Riverchapel Local Policing Fora (LPF)

Tony Clyne Joy Lattimore Rice 1 Vacant Seat

SPC=Strategic Policy Committee

Should you wish your PPN representatives to

raise any issue at the relevant committees

please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Representatives also seek your opinion prior

to attending the meeting and so please take

the time to read the materials and feedback

to your representatives.

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County Membership Meeting

The bi-annual meeting of all PPN Members

takes place from 6-9pm on 1st March at

Riverside Park Hotel, Enniscorthy.

We’ve sent all members the details of the

event but just to highlight a few aspects of

the evening below.

In addition to our own members and the

Artists at the Expo we will have the following

groups attending– Wexford MABS, WLD

LEADER Community Team, IEN, An Cosan

VCC, Community Finance Ireland, Clann

Credo, Wexford Libraries, LAWCO, Sports

Active, BHP Insurance & 3 Counties Energy

Agency.

As a new element this year we have added

two drop in information clinics. These are

short 20 minute sessions to give you some

more information & the opportunity to ask

questions. The two information clinics on

offer are;

‘Creative Communities’ - Liz Burns, Arts Officer at Wexford County Council will provide an overview of the Funding Scheme, which offers an opportunity for communities to undertake a collaboration between Artists and County Wexford based communities, for arts projects. Artists in this scheme cover a broad range and many of the artists themselves will Expo at the Membership Meeting allowing you to have a chat with the artists, discuss

possible projects etc. The scheme will launch on the day of the meeting and so it is an opportune time to see examples of previous projects and see if it is something that could be of interest for your community.

‘Sustainable Development Goals’ – Caitriona Rogerson is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Project Co-ordinator at Irish Environmental Network (IEN). Part of Caitriona’s role is to support and encourage Irish community groups to develop an understanding around the SDGs and how they impact at a local level. The goals are backed up by 169 specific targets which address challenges in areas as diverse as poverty, education, human rights, food security, clean energy, climate, peace, sustainable consumption and urbanization. Knowledge of these goals and targets provides an opportunity for Member groups and Caitriona will highlight the community supports available.

Wexford PPN are also

looking at providing

transport to the event

in conjunction with

Local Link Wexford,

subject to demand.

Therefore please contact us by email or

phone at latest by 20th February if transport

to the event is something you would utilise,

if available.

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